COLUMBUS — Some Ohio school districts are addressing pandemic-related staff shortages by allowing substitute teachers with less than a bachelor’s degree to teach during the 2020-2021 school year.
Under House Bill 409, schools can employ an individual who does not hold a post-secondary degree as a substitute teacher for the 2020-2021 school year only. These individuals must first obtain a non-renewable temporary substitute teaching license for the 2020-2021 school year.
Prior to this legislation, substitute teachers in Ohio were required to hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, but it did not have to be in education or a related field.
The pandemic prompted the change, as exposure to COVID-19 and related quarantine policies left school administration seeking replacements more than ever before. The bill described waiving the post-secondary education requirement as an “emergency measure.
“The reason for such necessity is to ensure school districts and schools can employ an adequate number of substitute teachers for the 2020-2021 school year to address the needs of the state arising from the COVID-19 outbreak,” the bill states.
It’s up to local school districts and educational service centers to decide if they will require any post-secondary education to work as a substitute.
How have Ashland County schools reacted?
Since the passage of House Bill 409, The Tri-County Educational Service Center has not adapted its policies to allow lesser education.
The ESC manages a list of substitute teachers for the majority of Ashland, Waynes and Holmes County school districts. This includes Ashland City Schools, Mapleton, Hillsdale, Black River and Loudonville-Perrysville.
“We have not changed anything with our substitute list. From our perspective, it’s really a district decision,” said Sandy Stebly of the Tri-County ESC.
Ashland City School District Superintendent Doug Marrah and Hillsdale Superintendent Steve Dickerson said last Friday that their respective districts have not opted to waive the Bachelor’s requirement.
“We haven’t had to do that and don’t intend to, but we’re aware of it and it’s good to know it’s an option,” Dickerson said.
According to Superintendent Marrah, Ashland City School District has added some substitute teachers — with Bachelor’s degrees — who only work remotely.
“We’ve had a couple days that have been really tough, but teachers do a great job of lending a hand. It’s less than perfect, but we get through those rough spots,” Marrah said.
Even before the pandemic, the district had seen staffing challenges. Marrah recalled a need for substitute teachers in early 2020 when a large number of teachers out with the flu.
“We’ve been able to make it work,” he said.
At a recent board of education meeting, Marrah explained that Gov. Mike DeWine’s change in quarantine guidelines has helped the district to keep students and staff in-person.
In early January, the state of Ohio changed its advice for schools, no longer recommending that students quarantine when they have been exposed to another COVID-positive student, as long as all students have been wearing masks and the exposure took place in a classroom setting. The results of the Ohio Schools COVID-19 Evaluvation had shown that students and staff who were masked and socially distanced in classrooms did not have an increased risk of catching the virus from a nearby positive student.
Only 30 students and staff were in quarantine, according to the school district’s COVID-19 Dashboard on Jan. 28. The district only had two positive cases of COVID-19 at that time.
Most — if not all — quarantines now are related exposures that happen outside school hours, Marrah said at the board meeting.
Ashland City School District was one of the districts involved in the evaluation, which garnered mixed reviews from parents and staff.
The evaluation has not been approved by an Institutional Review Board, parent and AU professor Diane Bonfiglo said in a late 2020 school board meeting. Such a process typically is required for research projects to ensure the protection of human subjects.
What’s happening in nearby Richland County?
In nearby Richland County, some school boards amended their policies to accept licensed substitutes with an associate’s degree or equivalent.
The Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center, which shares its substitute list with the majority of Richland County school districts, decided that an individual must still possess an associate’s degree or higher or have completed at least two years of coursework from an accredited institution of higher education.
Schools in Lexington, Lucas and Plymouth have already voted to approve the temporary measure. The board of Madison Local Schools will likely vote on a similar measure at its meeting Wednesday. The Clear Fork Valley Local and Ontario Local have already had their monthly meeting, but could vote to amend their substitute teacher policies in February.
The North Central Ohio Educational Service Center, which provides substitutes to the Shelby City and Ontario Local school districts, will not require its substitutes to have any post-secondary education for the 2020-2021 school year only.
Brenda Luhring, deputy superintendent at the NCOESC, said that while it’s “not ideal” to put substitutes in the classroom who aren’t certified teachers, the need for school staff is too dire to ignore.
“Even before COVID we couldn’t get enough substitutes teachers in our districts,” she said. “We’re at this point in Ohio, and I believe it’s the same all over the country, that there’s just not enough substitutes. People aren’t going into education like they used to.”
In Richland County, staffing shortages caused by staff quarantines led to numerous school closures in the fall.
Amber Cyrus, who has worked as a substitute teacher for seven years, said her services were more in-demand than ever.
Cyrus typically selects her assignments through a software program used by the MOESC. But before schools went remote last fall, she was receiving calls from secretaries and texts from principals begging her to take on assignments.
“It was definitely busier than normal,” she said.
Cyrus has a degree in recreational therapy and her career background was in assisted living. But after her daughters were born, she wanted a job that would allow her the flexibility of picking when, where and how often she wanted to work.
As a stay-at-home mom, she enjoys the flexibility that substitute teaching offers.
“I can pick the days I want to work and the buildings I want to work in,” she said.
While she never thought she’d end up working in the schools, Cyrus now finds interacting with the students and teaching basic lessons very rewarding.
“Sometimes I do get to teach and other times it is just an in-classroom assignment and making sure they’re getting their work done,” Cyrus said. “I really enjoy the students when they really learn something, to see them succeed.”
